This invention relates generally to the design and fabrication of inkjet printheads and/or gutters, and in particular to the configuration of the inkjet gutters configured to collect ink drops from two dimensional nozzle arrays.
Traditionally, digitally controlled inkjet printing capability is accomplished by one of two technologies. Both technologies feed ink through channels formed in a printhead. Each channel includes a nozzle from which droplets of ink are selectively extruded and deposited upon a medium.
The first technology, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cdrop-on-demandxe2x80x9d ink jet printing, provides ink droplets for impact upon a recording surface using a pressurization actuator (thermal, piezoelectric, etc.). Selective activation of the actuator causes the formation and ejection of a flying ink droplet that crosses the space between the printhead and the print media and strikes the print media. The formation of printed images is achieved by controlling the individual formation of ink droplets, as is required to create the desired image. Typically, a slight negative pressure within each channel keeps the ink from inadvertently escaping through the nozzle, and also forms a slightly concave meniscus at the nozzle, thus helping to keep the nozzle clean.
Conventional xe2x80x9cdrop-on-demandxe2x80x9d ink jet printers utilize a pressurization actuator to produce the ink jet droplet at orifices of a print head. Typically, one of two types of actuators are used including heat actuators and piezoelectric actuators. With heat actuators, a heater, placed at a convenient location, heats the ink causing a quantity of ink to phase change into a gaseous steam bubble that raises the internal ink pressure sufficiently for an ink droplet to be expelled. With piezoelectric actuators, an electric field is applied to a piezoelectric material possessing properties that create a mechanical stress in the material causing an ink droplet to be expelled. The most commonly produced piezoelectric materials are ceramics, such as lead zirconate titanate, barium titanate, lead titanate, and lead metaniobate.
The second technology, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9ccontinuous streamxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccontinuousxe2x80x9d ink jet printing, uses a pressurized ink source which produces a continuous stream of ink droplets. Conventional continuous ink jet printers utilize electrostatic charging devices that are placed close to the point where a filament of working fluid breaks into individual ink droplets. The ink droplets are electrically charged and then directed to an appropriate location by deflection electrodes having a large potential difference. When no print is desired, the ink droplets are deflected into an ink capturing mechanism (catcher, interceptor, gutter, etc.) and either recycled or disposed of When a print is desired, the ink droplets are not deflected and allowed to strike a print media. Alternatively, deflected ink droplets may be allowed to strike the print media, while non-deflected ink droplets are collected in the ink capturing mechanism.
Regardless of the type of inkjet printer technology, it is desirable in the fabrication of inkjet printheads to space nozzles in a two-dimensional array rather than in a linear array. Printheads so fabricated have advantages in the areas relating to system performance and manufacturability. These advantages have been realized in currently manufactured drop-on-demand devices. For example, commercially available drop-on-demand printheads have nozzles which are disposed in a two-dimensional array in order to increase the apparent linear density of printed drops and to increase the space available for the construction of the ink drop firing chamber of each nozzle.
Additionally, commercially available piezoelectric drop-on-demand printheads have a two-dimensional array with nozzles arranged in a plurality of linear rows with each row displaced in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the rows. This nozzle configuration is used advantageously to decouple interactions between nozzles by preventing acoustic waves produced by the firing of one nozzle from interfering with the droplets fired from a second, neighboring nozzle. Neighboring nozzles are fired at different times to compensate for their displacement in a direction perpendicular to the nozzle rows as the printhead is scanned in a fast scan direction.
Attempts have also been made to provide redundancy in drop-on-demand printheads to protect the printing process from failure of a particular nozzle. In these attempts, two rows of nozzles were located aligned in a first direction, but displaced from one another in a second direction. The second direction being perpendicular to the first direction. There being no offset between the nozzle rows in the first direction, a printed drop origination from the first row could be printed redundantly from a nozzle positioned in the second row.
However, for continuous inkjet printheads, two dimensional nozzle configurations have not been generally practiced successfully. This is especially true for printheads having a single gutter.
Typically, conventional continuous inkjet printheads use only one gutter for cost and simplicity reasons. Occasionally, all ejected ink drops need to be guttered, therefore, a single gutter is typically used to reduce component cost and simplify printing systems. As conventional gutters are made with a straight edge designed to capture drops from a linear row of nozzles, the gutter edge in prior art devices extends in a first direction which is in the direction of the linear row of nozzles. As such, traditionally, it has been viewed as impractical to locate nozzles displaced in a second direction, substantially perpendicular from the first direction, because it is difficult to steer or deflect drops from nozzles so located into the gutter. This is because the ability to steer or deflect drops has typically been limited to steering or deflecting of less than a few degrees. As such, the maximum displacement of a nozzle in the second direction is so limited that to date it has been impractical to implement.
A continuous inkjet gutter configured to collect ink drops from two dimensional nozzle arrays would be a welcome advancement in the art. Additionally, a continuous inkjet printhead having two dimensional nozzle arrays and a gutter configured to collect ink drops from the two dimensional nozzle arrays would also be a welcome advancement in the art.
An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet gutter configured to collect ink drops from two dimensional nozzle arrays.
Another object of the present invention to provide a continuous inkjet printhead having two dimensional nozzle arrays.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a continuous inkjet printhead having a gutter configured to collect ink drops from two dimensional nozzle arrays.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a continuous inkjet printhead that simultaneously prints ink drops on a receiver at locations displaced from other printed ink drops.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a continuous inkjet printhead and printer that increases the density of printed pixels.
According to a feature of the present invention, a continuous ink jet printhead includes a source of ink drops; a first nozzle row, and a second nozzle row displaced in a first direction and a second direction relative to the first nozzle row. A selection device is positioned relative to the first and second nozzle rows. The selection device is configured to direct ink drops ejected from the source through the first nozzle row along a first selected ink drop path and a first non-selected ink drop path. The selection device is also configured to direct ink drops ejected from the source through the second nozzle row along a second selected ink drop path and a second non-selected ink drop path. A gutter is positioned adjacent to the first and second non-selected ink drop paths and is shaped to collect ink drops traveling along the first and second non-selected ink drop paths.
According to another feature of the present invention, the gutter includes a housing defining an ink removal channel. The housing has an edge with a second portion of the edge being displaced in the first direction and the second direction relative to a first portion of the edge such that displacement of the second edge portion corresponds to the displacement of the second nozzle row. Portions of the housing also define an opening extending along the edge.
According to another feature of the present invention, a gutter for a continuous ink jet printhead having a first nozzle row and a second nozzle row with the second nozzle row being displaced in a first direction and a second direction relative to the first nozzle row, includes a housing defining an ink removal channel. The housing has an edge with a second portion of the edge being displaced in the first direction and the second direction relative to a first portion of the edge such that displacement of the second edge portion corresponds to the displacement of the second nozzle row.